Disney's Villains: Hades #1 // Review
Zeus is there. Look closely, and you might see Apollo and Neptune. Even Cloacina and SHE is the goddess of the sewer. Do you know who wasn't invited to brunch on Mount Olympus? He's the subject of the latest Dynamite Comics, and he's looking for revenge in Disney's Villains: Hades #1. Writer Elliot Kalan opens a story illustrated by Alessandro Ranaldi. Getting revenge isn't easy for the god of the underworld. If it were easy, it would be over by the end of the first issue, and he wouldn't have had any problem with a particular Herculean demigod...
Hades needs some form of actionable intelligence if he's going to be able to have any serious chance of getting his revenge on Olympus. So naturally, he's going to contact the three sisters of fate. They will tell him all about this golden fleece protected against teleportation and guarded by a sleepless dragon. So it will be a challenge to get without anyone being alerted to the theft, but at least he knows what he has to do. And it's not like he's a god who doesn't have a lot of power and influence. If anyone...I mean, anyone aside from Jason can get the golden fleece; it will be Hades.
Hades assembles a Suicide Squad-style team of villains and tragic figures from Greek and Roman mythology. The "getting the team together" opening episode in the series is an unreasonable amount of fun. Kalan does a brilliant job of capturing the essence of James Woods' Hades. It's impossible to read the dialogue and NOT hear Woods' voice. The distinct personalities of Medusa, Arachne, Icarus, and more come across with striking wit thanks to Kalan's sharp sense of timing and cleverly directed dialogue. It all comes together in a very tightly paced-opening episode.
Nearly every character in the opening issue has had some incarnation in the Disney animated property, whether in the 1997 film or in the two seasons of the subsequent animated TV series. The character design that Ranaldi puts together on the ensemble is better than anything done for previous animated incarnations. Ranaldi sticks perfectly with the characters featured prominently in the film. Hades looks like he does in the movie. So do the fates. Ranaldi's design on Medusa is GORGEOUS. Arachne has a tremendous amount of personality. The jock dude aesthetic of Icarus is quite inspired...and throughout, the visual dynamic of the comedy fits the spirit of the film more or less perfectly.
Kalan's Hades has no business being anywhere near as appealing as it is. The overall premise is silly, and the plot's basic nuts-and-bolts are tedious. Still, Kalan and Ranaldi nail the fun of the story with such brilliance that it almost makes the mini-series opening feel much more appealing than anything that Disney managed with the original 1997 film.
